Monday, May 31, 2010

Day 3: Stormont Estate and Killyleagh

Good Evening Everyone!

Today was one of those days where plans changed every few hours. We were supposed to leave our cottages at 10am to head to Stormont and also explore downtown Belfast. I should have known right in the beginning when the bus driver arrived a half hour late that this day was not going to go as planned, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The late arrival didn’t actually affect us too much because we had a very speedy bus driver named Anthony. We got air on a few of the hills he was going so fast.


(Stormont Estate)

Upon arrival in Stormont, we headed to the Stormont Family Fun Day, which was located on the grounds of the Stormont Estate, which is where the Assembly in Northern Ireland is located. We didn’t spend much time on the grounds of the fun day because it was geared completely towards children, and let me tell you, we saw quite a few of them. The way up to the Stormont Estate was quite a hike. It was about a mile total from the gate to the actual building. On the way up, Jenn ended up injuring her knee and ultimately needed to go to the hospital for stitches. While Jenn was at the hospital, we went on a tour of the Stormont Estate and saw where the Assembly meets and where the Senate would meet if Northern Ireland had a Senate. We were given this tour by one of the aldermen in Northern Ireland by the name of Jim. Following our tour, Tim had to leave to meet up with Jenn, so we were left under the care of someone named Elizabeth who works at Stormont Estate. Elizabeth was younger and very fun, so it was great to spend time with her. We went and had lunch and then we met up with Basil, who is an MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly). Basil then took us up to the balcony of the Stormont Estate. This was awesome because we got to take tons of pictures and no one else from the Family Fun Day was allowed up on the balcony, so we all felt like VIP’s. It wasn’t originally planned, but it was a great use of time!


(Kaitie and me with Basil on the Stormont Estate balcony)

Then, once Jenn returned from the hospital, with 7 new stitches, we headed to Killyleagh (also not originally planned) because Basil had made arrangements while we were eating lunch to go on a sailboat. While driving to Killyleagh, we learned about how Killyleagh was where a man named Hans Sloan was from. Hans Sloan was famous for creating chocolate, but we weren’t there for chocolate, we were there for sailing! When we got to the sea, we met a man named Eddie. Eddie is about 70 years old and he was the man that Basil knew that owned the sailboat. We all got on the boat and went for about a 2.5-hour sailboat ride, drank some wine, and chatted with Eddie and Basil. It was a bit chilly, but we really enjoyed the trip because we got to see a lot of gorgeous houses near the sea.


(View from the sailboat in Killyleagh)

Following the sailboat ride, we returned back to Dundrum and ate dinner on our own and just relaxed for awhile before writing our blogs. For dinner, I ate some leftover salad from yesterday and some instant mashed potatoes. I’m not the biggest fan of mashed potatoes, but I was certainly not a fan of these mashed potatoes. Looks like I’ll be eating a lot of pizza and pasta the rest of the time here when we cook our own meals because at least those are things I know I can eat and enjoy. It’s going to be a bit earlier night tonight. I’ll probably be in bed before 11:30pm because we start our first day of our placements tomorrow. I leave to catch the bus around 8am to give ourselves a little extra time since it’s the first day. A few of us are catching the bus together to the Saint Patrick Centre and then Tim is going to drive us to our respective locations. I’m sure I’ll have interesting things to say about my placement at the Downe Hospital tomorrow. Until tomorrow, goodnight!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Day 2: The Fair and Hillsborough

Good Evening from Ireland!

Well, the second day in Ireland is ending as I write this blog at 12:30am (Ireland time). Today was a bit more relaxed than yesterday, but it probably seems that way because today we weren’t detained and we didn’t just arrive after a 6-hour flight. I woke up this morning having gotten about 9 hours of much needed sleep. We left for the National Countrysports Fair which was in Moira Demese, Northern Ireland around 10am. It took about an hour to get to the fair and we met Tim and his wife on the way there. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Northern Ireland, so I was quite pleased to spend the day outdoors.

(Owl and hawk at the fair)

The National Countrysports Fair is, as their website puts it, “widely recognized by Ireland’s country sports community as the showcase event for Irish country sports and rural living.” I truly got to experience some of the Irish culture that you don’t always hear about at this fair. Upon arrival, we met up with the Ulster-Scots Agency, which is an agency devoted to “Discover[ing] your history.” This history is about the people who migrated from Scotland to Ulster. The Ulster-Scots had a tent at the fair and were very accommodating. We were able to sample soda bread (which is delicious!) and then we were given a short tour of the fair. Additionally, we got to meet Maynard, which I have heard a bit about from Kyle O’Brien (last year’s La Crosse chapter Young Ambassador) and Tim. While at the fair, we also got to do a little exploring on our own. We saw the sporting dog show where the dogs did tricks. It reminded me a bit of home because my neighbors back home in Waukesha are quite into sporting dogs and have a Gordon Setter and English Setter. We also got to see a bunch of hawks and owls and then saw falconry (definition: training birds of prey to hunt and return). The highlight of the falconry was when one of the falcons came and landed on Tim’s head and he had to assist with part of the show, along with Ryan, one of the other Young Ambassadors. The reason this was so funny is because Tim is afraid of birds, so you can imagine how interesting of a show it was! Afterwards we did a bit more exploring, ate some lunch, and tried some seaweed, which is apparently quite popular in Ireland. You’ll be surprised to know that I did not like it. It was too salty and a strange texture. I’ll still eat it in my sushi, but it’s not something I plan to eat alone.


(View of a cathedal near the Hillsborough castle)

On the way back from the fair we stopped in Hillsborough and saw the Hillsborough castle. We also got to see the lake there, which was absolutely gorgeous. I’m so glad that it was sunny outside because the blue skies, green trees, blue water, and white swans were beautiful and I couldn’t have imagined it on a cloudy day. Getting to see the castle was awesome too! We took quite a few pictures because it was so beautiful. Following all the pictures, we headed back to Dundrum.

(Lake in Hillsborough)

After we arrived in Dundrum, we hung around our cottages for a little while. Most of us connected to the U.S. world via-internet. Then a bunch of us decided to go to the grocery store and buy a few things and make dinner together. We had salad and spaghetti. Following dinner, we basically all sat around and talked while telling stories. It was a great night filled with lots of laughs and getting to know each other more. I think that’s it for now, it’s time for bed. Goodnight everyone!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Welcome to Northern Ireland: Day 1

Good Evening from Dundrum, Northern Ireland,

We’ve arrived in Northern Ireland and oh what a journey it has been already. The last 36 hours have been some of the longest hours of my life. In fact, the last few days have been long. I was quite busy at the beginning of May studying for finals, turning over my duties as student body Vice-President and assuming my new duties as student body President, and bidding farewell to close friends who were graduating. All this activity left me little time to prepare for Ireland, let alone think about it, so that’s what I’ve been doing the last few days. After all, this is my first time out of the country and only a few days to actually prepare for the trip may not have been enough. I had to buy all my travel necessities, get a converter/adapter for electrical outlets, figure out how currency works here, etc. It was a lot to cram into a few days, but it doesn’t compare to the past 36 hours.

I left my home in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA at 10:55am on Friday, March 28th for the bus stop at Goerke’s Corners. The bus took me straight to O’Hare International Airport where I checked-in and was informed that flights with service to Newark, NJ were delayed. Continental Airlines wanted to bump me to an earlier flight to ensure that I would make my connecting flight to Belfast. I was booked on a flight set to leave at 3:30pm. It left a little late and it was on the smallest plane ever (only 19 rows with 3 seats each row) but I got to Newark and had time to relax. Once arriving at Newark, I found two of the other Young Ambassadors, Ryan and Andrea from the Minneapolis chapter. I didn’t have a chance to meet the other Young Ambassadors until boarding the plane to Belfast and still I hadn’t met a few until after the flight landed in Belfast.

The flight to Belfast was quite long. I was seated in the exit row, which I thought to be awesome because of the extra room until I found out that the seats didn’t recline. That was a big bummer because it was quite difficult to sleep. The food was okay, we had chicken and rice for dinner and fruit and a croissant for breakfast. The best part was the personal tv screens in front of each person. I watched “Up in the Air” and played a few games of Bejeweled. I also watched a few episodes of CSI: NY.

After getting off the plane and going through customs is where the fun begins. Usually the Young Ambassadors fly into Dublin, which apparently has a lot less strict customs. Well, the customs in Belfast decided to detain us because apparently the rules just changed and ANY work whether paid or unpaid requires a Visa. Luckily, Tim was at the airport and the customs woman went and talked to him and he won, so we all got to get our passports stamped. We had to wait a good hour and a half, but it was great bonding time and we all got to know each other. When the lady came back to tell us whether we were staying or leaving, she said that we had to go home… she was joking, but only half of us could see her smiling and saying we were good to enter, so the other half was really worried that we’d have to return to the U.S. We finally got our passports stamped and left the airport. There was literally NO ONE in the rest of the airport, not even airport personnel. It was creepy.

(Picture of the back of the Dundrum cottages)

Then Tim met us and we took a bus to Dundrum to drop off our bags. The ride was a bit scary because we weren’t used to driving on the opposite side of the road. This was not to mention that the roads are much more narrow so it seemed like the speed limits were a bit too high for the roads, but we made it safely. Once in Dundrum we unpacked our bags from the van and then headed right to the Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick. While at the Saint Patrick Centre, we got a tour and learned a little bit about the Northern Irish culture and what we would be doing the next two weeks. We also had a bit of tea and sandwiches. Then we headed back to Dundrum and unpacked our luggage because only one of the cottages was available at the time. Since most people didn’t want to move their stuff, only three of us are in the other cottage for now until Megan arrives. I can’t complain though because it’s nice when it comes to the bathroom situation. There are three bathrooms in the cottages and only three of us, so it’s perfect. In my cottage, I share a room with Kacie who is from Pittsburgh, Ryan is in the room across the hall, and he’s from Minneapolis. After unpacking, we just hung out around the cottages for a while and relaxed. I took probably the best shower of my life and then we got ready for going back to the Saint Patrick Centre for the welcome Barbeque.

(Peace Garden Rocks)

At the Barbeque, we met a ton of locals who mostly had connections with the Saint Patrick Centre in some way or another. We also put our peace garden rocks in the peace garden and had some delicious food. Following the food, we mingled and got to talk to those at the Barbeque from Northern Ireland. Then we headed back home, relaxed, went to the pub down the street for a pint, and then went to bed. Overall, it was a great day, very eventful, but exhausting. Goodnight everyone! Crazy that it’s only 5:30pm in the USA.

(View of the Peace garden at the Saint Patrick Centre)